D+D episode 1 - "Kiddie Army"

Welcome to D+D, a new long-form comics project I will be serializing here this fall, exclusively for $5 Patrons. New episodes will be published at least once a week until the story is told.

For those of you checking out this public post, in addition to access to this weekly webcomic, $5 Patrons also enjoy membership in my 'zines by mail subscription service. Every time I create a new 'zine or mini-comic, I send it to you in the mail, no additional fees or cost. I am currently preparing FUN TIME FALL 2022, a new full-color 20 page mini-comic, which will go out to subscribers in September. 

If you'd like to receive a copy, all you have to do is sign up to support me here on Patreon before the end of August. To further sweeten the pot, anybody who signs up now will also receive a copy of my beloved early aughts small-press-scene satire, SAD-BOY COMIX AND STORIES #1.

So what is D+D? Long-time readers of mine will undoubtedly recognize the above characters and the setting from my relatively critically acclaimed 2011 graphic novel, TROOP 142. That book told the story of a troop of Boy Scouts away at a weeklong camp in the summer of 1995. There were a lot of different storylines occurring, and, as happens to me constantly, I always struggled to explain what the story was, apart from it being an examination of toxic masculinity in a very rigid, extremely heteronormative environment. 

I am thinking of D+D as a reimagining of TROOP 142, told more from the point of view of Big David and Little David. It will be the story of their relationship. There will be a new story there. It will go to different places. This is the kind of thing that, as a writer, you are usually told is a bad idea. Don't revisit earlier works, fight the urge to go back in time and fix the past, move forward.

But, the truth is, I'm really excited about going back and revisiting this story. There's a lot I think I still have to say. There's a lot I want to explore. I've been working on new pages, and already this is beginning to branch off in interesting new directions.

Which, honestly, makes this the perfect kind of project for me to publish here on Patreon. A place where people who enjoy my comics can give me a little bit of support, while I dedicate a little bit of my time into making something that is creatively thrilling and a joy to work on, but is unlikely to be especially marketable or necessarily appealing to a greater audience. 

I am really enjoying making this. That feels like a very worthwhile use of this platform.